Valma Marie Arabica: Hopeless Gryffindor
by PirateLayla
Summary: Valma, or Val as her friends like to call her, becomes hopelessly desperate when her parents reveal that they have arranged a marriage between her and Stephan Yaxley. How far will Val go to get out of the joke of a marriage? Will she go to one of the infamous Marauders for help?
1. Chapter 1

**First of all, I do not own Harry Potter, just my OC.. I am simply playing with J. 's toys.. :D**

Valma Marie Arabica absolutely and with no doubt in the world, hated her family. No, they didn't abuse or starve her; they were just stuck up little pricks who couldn't mind their own business. She was fifteen, got great marks in school, even pretended to be the perfect daughter that they wanted. But even after all of that was taken into account did they stop once to even consider the possibility that she was capable of making her own decisions? Absolutely not. No, they seemed to be under the impression that they lived in medieval times and that they needed to make all of her decisions for her.

Okay, now before this turns into a full blown rant let us take a moment to take a look at our poor Valma. She was short, yet she still had high hopes of reaching, at the very least, five feet, rather than the four foot and five inches that she stood currently. Her hair was short, stopping just above her shoulders and was a light brown color with natural, thanks to the sun, highlights. Her eyes, they were one of her favorite things about herself, even if they weren't that special. They were a rather pretty green, though granted, they weren't the bold emerald green that one of her friends was so gifted with. Now she a stick figure, as so many of her classmates was, but she was a long ways from being overweight, due to this, according to her mother, she was 'gifted' with a curvy figure. Curvy as if she could fill out a pair of jeans quite well, though her mother would have a fit if she even mentioned the pants. Her chest, well she was anything _but_ flat chested.

Val, as her friends often called her, was currently sitting with her family, her Mother and Father. Her Mother was a small woman, with a pinched looking face, who looked as if one good wind would blow her away. Her Father, on the other hand, was quite a tall man, standing just above the six foot marker, and looked as if he could stand outside in the midst of a tornado and not be blown away. Val was sitting in a pale pink summer dress that just passed her knees before the hem ended, though she tried to tell her mother that that particular cut did nothing for her height. She was also furious at her parents, the people who carried on as if they did not hear their daughter exclaim as they had delivered their news.

"And to top it all off, though how you could possibly top what an outstanding family he comes from he is, I think, quite handsome for his age, I can just picture what the grandchildren would look like..." Her Mother gave the girl a look as if expecting an agreement, but Val was beyond agreeing.

"No, Mother I quite think he is one of the most repulsive men you could have possibly chosen, I refuse to marry Stephan Yaxley!" Her parents exchanged a look before her Father chuckled, patting her shoulder.

"Oh, my dear Valma, it is quite understandable, being apprehensive about your marriage. Particularly at this early a stage in it! But I assure you, this is for your own good! His family was even kind enough to overlook the fact that you were sorted into Gryffindor, rather than Slytherin, quite generous if you ask me. Besides, you have nearly two years to get comfortable with him before you marry." He turned to the side then, picking up a book at the stand next to his chair, a signal that he would say no more on the matter at the moment. Just before her mother was about to say something Val gave a frustrated growl like noise, standing up abruptly and rushing to her room, ignoring her parents who were trying to call her back.

They honestly thought that she would just smile and accept their meddling with her life? That she would even think about marrying that stuck up womanizing prick Yaxley? She sat at the edge of her bed, tears falling freely now in the privacy of her room. There was no was in hell that she would willingly marry that stuck up prat. Yet she didn't see any way out of it, she shook her head. Tomorrow she would take the train to return to school, she would talk to her friends, beg them for advice even. If that didn't work _then_ she could panic.

She sighed, moving towards her wardrobe to get changed into her pale gold night gown before moving towards her in suite bathroom to brush her teeth and hair. As she was crawling into her bed she prayed, begged whatever higher power that was up there that she could get out of this marriage.


	2. Chapter 2

**Okay, so I don't own Harry Potter, though I wish that I did… well maybe I could ask for just Sirius? He died after the fifth one… I'm sure he wouldn't be missed too much… Anyways, please leave a review!**

As she found an empty compartment on the train she stuffed her trunk up into the overhead by standing on one of the seats, and then collapsed back, resting her head against the window as she watched people say their heartfelt goodbyes to their families.

She jumped when the compartment door opened to reveal one of her best friends, Lilly Evans. She leaped out of her seat to attack the girl with a hug, shaking her head as she noticed Lilly's now short hair. "Copycat."

Lilly rolled her eyes, pushing her trunk up with Val's. "So, how was your summer?" Val made a face, tossing her head back and hitting it against the seat. "That bad?"

"Worse and you won't believe what they did this time!" Val was scowling out the window as the train started moving out of the station.

"What, worse than last year when they made you quit the quidditch team?"

Val nodded, she had been a pretty good chaser during her second and third years, but her parents thought it wasn't lady like, so told her to quit or risk the consequences. "Way worse, you know Yaxley?"

Lilly nodded, her eyes wide, but before Val could continue the compartment door opened, revealing none other than Lilly's very own stalker, James Potter. He was standing in the door way with one of his friends, Sirius Black.

"Ah, there you are my beautiful Lilly Flower! And how was your summer? Everything good?" He smiled, one hand moving to ruffle up his already horrible hair.

Lilly huffed, giving Val an apologetic look before glaring at James. "Fine, now if you don't mind, I have to go find the Prefect's compartment." Lilly stood up, apparently not in the mood to deal with the boys, and without giving them a chance to respond she strode passed them, leaving the two boys alone with Val.

It was silent for a moment before James cleared his throat. "So, Arabica, anything wonderful happen over the summer, like you realizing that you were an idiot for quitting the team?"

Val glared at James, crossing her arms over her chest. "No, nothing wonderful happened. And anyway I've told you before; it wasn't my choice to quit the team! My parents made me!"

Sirius scoffed, leaning against the doorframe. "So? If you really wanted to stay on the team you would have, simple as that. When are you going to grow up and quit doing everything Mummy and Daddy told you to?"

She sighed, glaring in his direction. "Oh, trust me, I wish I could. Do you think I _like_ having my life controlled? Please…"

James shrugged; he had an awkward look on his face as he backed out of the compartment muttering something about going to talk to Peter. Now, once upon a time James, Peter, Remus, and even Sirius had been her very best friends.

Since first year they had all gravitated towards each other, it started when they all ended up sitting together on the first train ride to Hogwarts, but the one that she had been the closest had been Sirius.

It all blew up sometime in their third year. Apparently they had decided that she wasn't good enough to be a part of their little gag anymore because one day Sirius had met her after a day full of the others avoiding her, to tell her that they had more important things to do than hang around her all the time.

It wasn't long after that happened that she started spending more time with the girls she shared her dorm with, the only one that seemed to dislike her was Marlene, she still wasn't sure why, but she had always been a bit frosty towards her.

Sirius just shook his head, moving further into the compartment. "My parents tried controlling me too, remember? I know what it's like so don't try that whole: 'You don't know what it's like' shit with me."

Val fought back a grin as she thought back to their first couple years at school, when they were still friends. The morning after they had been sorted his mother had sent a howler, both berating him, and demanding that he be re-sorted, that something must have been wrong with the sorting hat.

Then she remembered all of the stories that he had told her, how he just loved undermining his parents at every chance he had. She was almost tempted to ask him for his help, but stopped herself. They weren't friends anymore, what if he refused? What if he thought it would be hilarious to see her suffer through an arranged marriage? "Yes, I remember. Everything is a bit fuzzy though, it's been _so_ long since we actually had a pleasant conversation about our home lives… Now if you don't mind I would like to be alone."

Sirius had a strange look on his face, but before she could make out what it was he had turned and nearly ran down the hall. Val shook her head; there were times that she missed the boys, like when she noticed Remus looking ill, most likely worried sick (Literally) about his sickly mother that he tended to visit every month. Then she would witness something that made her want to hit her head against the stone walls of the castle at their behavior, like James when he was trying to get Lilly's attention, honestly, the boy was crushing hard, but would he just grow up and act like it? No, he had to be a prat and torment one of his crush's best friends (Severus) almost daily.

She was brought back from her musings when Alice Prewett and Marlene McKinnon entered the compartment, Alice with a smile, and Marlene with a sneer on her face.

"Hey Val, what's the scoop this year? What horrible plot have your parents conjured against you now?"

Despite her foul mood, Val grinned, leave it to Alice to just assume her family had pissed her off again, and to say it in such a way to make her want to giggle rather than rant. "Well, I would tell you, but I want to wait until Lilly is here, but Merlin, why can't my parents be more like yours? Huh Alice?"

Alice laughed with Marlene as Val pouted, watching the countryside fly by her window, wondering why she had to be cursed with such a horrible family when she had only ever tried to please them before.

It was nearly half an hour later that Lilly finally rejoined them; Marlene was looking through some fashion magazine while Alice and Val were talking about Alice's summer, and how she and a certain Frank Longbottom had started exchanging letters. Lilly sat next to Val, Alice was opposite them next to Marlene. "Okay Val, what were you going to say before Potter and Black so graciously interrupted us?"

Marlene perked up, leaning towards Lilly. "Sirius was here?! Why didn't you say so earlier?! Did he get any cuter? What am I saying its Sirius it's not possible for him to get cuter…" Something that should be said about Marlene, she has had the _biggest_ crush on Sirius Black since first year. Really, the girl doodled his name on any piece of parchment that stayed still too long in front of her. Not that it stopped her from going out with other guys, at all. Honestly, how someone could be _so in love_ with someone else, while going through a boyfriend a week Val honestly didn't know."

"Yes, they came by, but I had to go to the Prefects meeting so I didn't stick around much, now Val said she needed to say something important, what was it?"

Val sighed as all three girls turned towards her. "Well, you girls have seen Stephan Yaxley around right?"

Alice wrinkled her nose, "You mean that Slytherin play boy who thinks his birthright is all the Females in the student body?"

Val nodded, "The very same. I am desperately in need of help and or advice here girls. My parents have officially crossed the line. They had the balls to announce yesterday that they have arranged, officially, going through the Ministry and everything, a marriage between Yaxley and me!"

It was silent for a moment before Marlene started laughing, ignoring the deathly glare from Val. "Merlin! That is priceless! Just perfect!" Lilly and Alice were now giving Marlene a strange look so she took a moment to calm herself. "Okay, so they arranged this through all the legal channels, right?" At Val's gloomy nod the girl continued. "And you want to get out of it, right?" At a more enthusiastic nod Marlene went on. "You are so screwed!" And at this Marlene burst out laughing once more, clutching at her sides.

Val blinked, failing to see the humor in the situation, and when she said as much Marlene calmed herself once more. "Okay, sorry. The only way to get out of an arranged marriage is to get married _before_ the date that is set, or to get disowned. And let's face it Val, Who the hell would want to marry you? And besides, even if you tried your parents are probably getting too much money to even _consider_ disowning you!"


	3. Chapter 3

**I don't own Harry Potter, never will… *cry***

It was nearing October, Val still wasn't out of the arranged marriage, and Yaxley would not leave her alone. Everywhere she turned, it seemed like he was there. The first time he confronted her he had _informed_ her that they were going on a date. Angered that he would just assume that she would say yes she had slapped him and ran off before he could do anything in retaliation.

That weekend, when they were supposed to be having their first date she had received an owl carrying a package. It was a rather skimpy looking red dress with a note from Stephan telling her to wear it on the date. She had burned both the dress and the note in the bathroom before going back to her transfiguration essay that was due the coming Monday.

Another time, as she was walking back to the common room with Lilly, he had come up beside her, grabbing her arm and dragging her away, telling her that if she didn't start being happy that she was lucky enough to land _him_ as her betrothed, then he would be writing to both of their parents. Then, before she could stop him he forced her against the wall so hard that it made her dizzy and she was sure that her head was bleeding, and then forced his lips onto hers roughly before leaving her in the deserted hallway.

Val rubbed at her upper right arm, where Yaxley had grabbed her just yesterday, and winced. She now had a nice new bruise going all the way around her arm in the shape of his hand, and her head _still_ hurt.

Lilly came into the dorm then, growling about how much of a pig James Potter was, and though Val usually sat with Lilly and helped her rant, today she wasn't in the mod. She made an excuse, something about leaving a book in the common room and left.

When she made it down the stairs leading towards the girl's dormitory she leaned against one of the bookshelves lining the common room, watching as people were studying or goofing off with their friends. As she spotted the Marauders (Really just James, Peter, Sirius and Remus, they had, for some reason decided that their gang needed a name. They also had ridiculous nicknames for each other to go with it.) Sitting huddled together near the fireplace she was struck with a wonderful idea. Trouble usually followed them around like a bad smell (the kind that usually hung around in old locker rooms, you know the kind) if anyone could help her get disowned it was them.

Steeling her nerves, she made her way over to the group of boys, tapping Remus lightly on the shoulder. He turned to see who was there and as he saw who it was the grin he had on his face started fading, the other boys falling silent as well.

She cleared her throat; she really didn't like awkward silences, shifting her weight from one foot to the other. "Look guys, we used to be best friends, and I don't know what happened that made that change, _why_ you decided that you didn't want to be friends, but I _really_ need your help… _please_."

There must have been something in her voice, because the boys fell even more silent, if that was possible. Now and then they would throw Sirius odd looks before James turned his attention back to her, ruffling his hair up, a nervous habit that he had. "What… what do you need help with? And why would you come to _us_ of all people?"

Val was about to tell them that there _was_ no one else she could ask for help, when she was interrupted by Remus. "Yes, why _would_ you want our help? I thought you were too good to be around people like me, let alone ask one for help."

This confused Val, for more than one reason. First, Remus sounded so cold and cut off when he spoke to her, and that just wasn't him, he was the nice, quiet, and shy boy that would always help someone if he could. Second, what was he talking about? When had she ever said that she was too good to be around them? She glanced at the others, noting James and Peter giving her rather cold looks as well while Sirius was squirming, looking rather awkward. "Okay, there are so many things wrong with what you just said, but one, what do you mean people like you?"

Rather than answering her question Remus just glared at her and grabbed her arm, right where Yaxley had, and dragging her up the stairs to the boy's dorm as the others followed behind them. When he finally released her arm she winced, rubbing at the now throbbing bruise, checking that her short sleeves were covering it. She looked up to see James warding the room for privacy while Sirius and Peter lounged on their beds, Remus pacing up and down the small room. When James was finally done with the warding he moved to stand in front of the door, as if guarding it, with his arms crossed.

Remus stopped his pacing in front of her, his face hard and unreadable. "You know perfectly well what I meant when I said 'people like me'! And what were you talking about? You didn't know why _we_ didn't want to be _your_ friends? _You_ were the one who told Sirius you were done with us!"

"What!? What the hell are you talking about?! I _thought_ things were great until third year!" She glared at him, fists clenched tightly in anger.

Remus seemed to kind of sneer at her, anger written plainly across his face. "Yes! Third year when you found out what I am!"

They were nearly nose to nose now, despite their height difference, and for the first time since she was a child some of her magic started acting out, flaring out like little bolts of blue lightening. "What you _are_?!" What the bloody hell are you talking about?! Everything was fine until you all started avoiding me! If it wasn't for Black telling me that you guys had better things to do than hang around me, I would probably still be confused as to why you were all acting like arses!" The boys had all backed up when her magic had started acting up, eyes wide. She sighed, shaking her head to try and calm herself. The next time she spoke it was quiet, quite unlike her tirade before. "I should have never asked for your help, just let me out… please."

James was staring back and forth between Sirius and Val, as were Remus and Peter. Sirius, on the other hand, seemed to be pretending he wasn't there. That is until James spoke with a voice so quiet they almost couldn't hear him, but though it was quiet there was no mistaking he was angry. "Padfoot, what is she talking about? I remember us finding out about Mooney, then you telling us the next morning Val told you she thought he was disgusting and that she wanted nothing more to do with him or us."

Val blinked, what the hell was going on? She looked over to see Sirius hiding his face in his hands, breathing deeply. "Wait!" Everyone turned to look at her again; she coughed, and then held up a hand, as if trying to answer a question in class. "Question, what the hell do you mean you _found out_ about Mooney? What the bloody fucking hell don't I know?!"

Remus looked frightened by her outburst, she mentally made a note to re-evaluate herself, was she really this scary? "You mean Sirius didn't tell you about me? He said that he did and that was when you freaked out."

Val shook her head slowly, a glare directed towards Sirius. "No. I told you guys what happened. He basically told me to fuck off. Now _please_ tell me what I don't know!"

Sirius stood up then, and glared down at his feet, as if all this was their fault. "Remus, guys, I'll tell her, like I should have in Third year." He looked up at Val, wincing at the look she was currently giving him. "Third year 'round November we had finally finished up the finishing touches on some prank we had planned on pulling on Snivelus, and we were tired 'cause we had been working on it for the whole day and Remus wasn't there to properly celebrate, so we decided to go to bed early, probably why I woke up so early the next day… It was just after dawn when I got up and was heading to the loo, when I looked out the window and saw Remus and Madame Pomfrey walking up to the castle, but I had seen them coming from _under_ the Whomping Willow! So to get some answers I confronted him the next day. "He paused then, rubbing at the back of his neck. "I asked him about it but he said I must have been dreaming, so I told James and Peter. It took us until January to piece it all together, but when we confronted him he finally admitted to us he was a werewolf… I was the one voted to tell you…"

Val stared at Sirius for a moment before raising her hand and slapping him hard across the face. When she turned to Remus he flinched, but she just stared at him with a contemplative look on her face. She nodded after a while, after all now that she thought about it, it did make since… all of the monthly visits covered up by saying he was visiting his mother, the way he looked so ill before and after he left… She rushed towards him, wrapping her arms around him in a tight, vice-like hug.


End file.
